According to the prior art, a snow cannon comprises a tubular member having an inlet opening and an outlet opening. A transit zone is defined inside the tubular member which is in fluid communication with the outside through the inlet opening and the outlet opening.
Moreover, blowing means are usually mounted inside the tubular member for sucking air from the inlet opening and generating an air flow out through the outlet opening.
More specifically, the blowing means comprise a motor and a fan connected to the motor. Moreover, the snow cannon comprises an apparatus located around the outlet opening of the cannon for delivering fluid towards the flow of air.
This apparatus comprises a plurality of fluid delivery nozzles and a air compressor which is motor-driven and connected to the delivery nozzles for mixing the fluid with the compressed air. More in detail, these delivery nozzles are nucleator nozzles. As is known in the sector of snow cannons, the nucleator nozzles generate a mixture of drops of water and compressed air which, in contact with the cold outside air, undergo an expanding and freezing process.
Thus, the snow cannon comprises two electric motors: a motor for operating the fan of the blowing means and the motor of the compressor. Alternatively, each cannon is fed by a centralised system configured for bringing the compressed air to each cannon (thus each cannon does not need the motor for the compressor). In that case, there is a single motor-driven air compressor located downstream of the cannons and connected to each of them by suitable compressed air distribution ducts. However, this centralised air distribution system is complicated to make (it is necessary to move the ducts to each cannon) and, very expensive.
In order to optimise the electricity consumption, as described in patent application DE4131857, there are prior art air solutions wherein the compressor is driven by the motor of the fan and is located inside the cannon near the fan (so there is therefore a single electric motor). In other words, the compressor is located inside the tubular member alongside the motor of the fan and is mechanically connected to the latter by a connecting shaft.
However, this prior art technique has several drawbacks.
The main drawback is linked to the fact that the compressor generates heat (on account of the physical process of compressing air) which is dispersed inside the tubular member and which, at least partly, heats the flow of air designed to generate the snow flakes.
Consequently, that heat generated by the compressor disturbs the thermal equilibrium relating to the air flow. In addition, based on this prior art technique, it is not possible to control the emission of the heat inside the tubular member in such a way as to disturb as little as possible the internal thermal equilibrium.